WD external drive

[dedndave]

the WD box is no fun to open   :P
inside, you will find a SATA hard drive
if your computer supports SATA interface, you can temporarily install it as an internal drive

[xanatose]

The same thing happen to me. Bought a 500GB portable hardisk with 600MB used for a partition that cannot be erased (because of the firmware). WD did provide a patch to HIDE the partition, but the only way to eliminate it requires to break the thing apart. Is good that I didn't bought the hardisk to mirror another 500GB disk, otherwise I would been pissed off with WD and their stolen 600MB.

[shankle]

I think I have found the solution.
Just as gwapo stated with one more goodie.

Thermaltake dock is an external device to connect 2.5 or 3.5 HDs.
I'll try to take out the HD from the MY BOOK without destroying the case.
If not use the Thermaltake dock.
There seem to be 2 different types of cases for these wd externals.
Some have a rubber tabs on the bottom of the front and a screw on the top.
My has nothing. I found a site with instructions for taking mine apart
without breaking it. But I don't have much hope with that.
Then I can get rid of the 100m of crap. :bdg

[GregL]

shankle,

Did the method described in the Dedoimedos article not work?

Here is another article on removing it.
    http://superuser.com/questions/44318/how-do-i-remove-a-mybooks-wd-smartware-virtual-cd-from-my-desktop

Is it necessary to remove the drive from the enclosure to completely get rid of this?

[shankle]

To G. Lyon.
It didn't work for me but somebody else might get it to work.

The article you suggested uses a program from WD which I no longer trust.
It will never get on my puter.

[GregL]

This is really going to make me think twice about buying WD external HDDs.  Even though I like the products.  What a stupid thing for WD to do.  People are really unhappy about this on the WD support forum etc.

[shankle]

Believe me they have lots of company :bdg

[hutch--]

Jack,

It seems to be the trend these days with external storage devices to make them "SMART" which means little else than added software that is difficult to modify or control. Recently my brother bought a NetGear storage device that you could only access by connecting to their web site and to fix this he had to get Linux programs to bypass the requirement so he could access the device without having to connect through the internet.

Answer is to buy a normal HDD and put it in a can yourself.

[dedndave]

S.M.A.R.T. is part of the drive's internal firmware
it can usually be disabled in BIOS, although you may have to hunt for it   :bg

[shankle]

To Hutch;
This will be my last WD external.
Any new ones I buy will be internal drives that I can put in the Thelmaltake dock or similar.
Only problem with this is how to store it in a bank deposit box. Wrap it in a baggy I guess.
But I would think that would attract static electricity.

For a stunt like this WD should go out of business.
Sounds like some of the stunts that Microsoft pulls.
Disgusting

[hutch--]

Jack,

To store a hard disk, just put it in a static bag and make sure it does not get dropped.

Dave,

What I intended with "SMART" was something like clever or pseudo-intelligent, where S.M.A.R.T. is just hardware for disk diagnostics. If its compatible with the BIOS there is no point in disabling it.

I have found from practice that "intelligent" in accessory hardware like external drives means "SLOW" in terms of data transfer rate. Connect a SATA disk to an ESATA cable and you get the same data transfer rate as an internal hard disk, these days about 100 meg/sec, stick it in an external can and it drops to user 50 meg/sec. Plug it into USB and it drops to less than 30 meg/sec.

My solution is 5 computers, gigabit ethernet and full drive speed beats plug in junk. Does not matter in many instances but try backing up 500 gig and data transfer starts to mean something.

[dedndave]

i am no fan of USB drives, although I do have a little thumb drive that comes in handy now and then   :bg
we have a new TV set that can access a USB drive, though - may be worth having one for that

[GregL]

I also won't be buying any WD external drives until they get rid of the SmartWare.
I think Hutch has the right idea, build your own from an internal drive and an enclosure, and go with eSATA.

For best results with the thumb drives, if they have U3 on them, get the 'U3 Removal Tool' and get rid of the U3. Then format the drive NTFS or FAT32, I prefer NTFS.

[dedndave]

thanks for the U3 tip, Greg   :U
for small drives, i use FAT32/exFAT32
not like i want the files indexed, nor am i concerned with quotas - free space is more the issue

[dedndave]

just for the fun of it, i wanted to compare NTFS against FAT32 for my little thumb drive
the MS XP driver won't let me format the drive as anything but FAT32   :P